Going back to the gym after the flu

[Al Copersino]

Hi, all. I started feeling crappy Tuesday and was disagnosed Thursday (yesterday) with the flu. If I go to the gym Sunday would I risk infecting fellow trainees?

[skid]

You don't have the flu. If you did you wouldn't want to go to the gym.

[Nockian]

You don't have the flu. If you did you wouldn't want to go to the gym.

Exactly. I had two weeks of it and could barely get out of bed never mind drag myself to the gym.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Not everybody takes being sick as seriously as you elderly gentlemen seem to. Flu lasts 72 hours, feel like shit lasts longer, but no fever is no flu/not contagious/no excuse to lay off.

[Nockian]

Not everybody takes being sick as seriously as you elderly gentlemen seem to. Flu lasts 72 hours, feel like shit lasts longer, but no fever is no flu/not contagious/no excuse to lay off.

I think it depends on the strain of Flu doesn't it ? I think you might find that some of them have the capacity to disable the body well beyond 72 hours-some permanently and you don't need to be elderly for it to be serious. A cold, couple of paracetemol and get to work.

[Al Copersino]

I ended up missing 7 days of lifting.

This now changes the topic of the conversation but I decided not to do a reset - yes, I'm over 50 and had the flu, but no, it wasn't more than a week's layoff. I cut out any ancillary exercises this past week and only did the main lifts. I found that I didn't seem to lose much strength but I definitely lost some conditioning as I was more out of breath than usual.

Lesson: next year I'll get a damn flu shot, even though in the past it's made me feel lousy.

[Nockian]

Yep, flu shot for me this year.